The Pink Tide in Latin America: limitations and possibilities

The recent article by Steve Ellner on the ‘Pink Tide (‘Applying/Misapplying Gramsci’s Passive Revolution to Latin America’, Monthly Review, 76(5), 47-63. https://doi.org/10.14452/MR-076-05-2024-09_4) provides a useful overview and analysis of the debates among progressives regarding the limitations and possibilities of the Pink Tide phenomenon in Latin America.

‘Pink Tide’ refers to the election of progressive governments in Latin America, apparently in waves. The first wave is described by Ellner as including Hugo Chavez in Venezuela (from 1998) and Evo Morales in Bolivia (from 2006). The second wave is described as including Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico (from 2018), Alberto Fernandez in Argentina (from 2019), Luis Arce in Bolivia (2020), Gabriel Boric in Chile (2021), and Pedro Castillo (2022).

The progressive character of these governments is expressed most clearly in their international policies, in particular, their challenges to US imperialism. An important aspect of such challenges have been initiatives directed to creating new geopolitical groupings and calls for a new New International Economic Order. Their domestic policies have also included significant welfare improvements.

The controversies explored by Ellner centre on whether the limitations of such governments, in terms of addressing inequality, environmental degradation and moving beyond capitalism, are due to internal contradictions (including the demands of domestic capital) or solely due to the pressures of the imperial hegemon and international finance markets.

A critical factor appears to be the relationships between government and social movements, and the coherence and activism of the social and political movements.

These debates threaded their way through the discussions at the recent People’s Health Movement Assembly (PHA5) in Mar del Plata in Argentina (April 2024). They are of continuing relevance to the strategies adopted by social and political movements such as PHM. Ellner’s analysis is a useful contribution to such discussions.